Sterling and Currency - The Humanity of It Allhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/blog-categories/humanity-it-all
enIt Turns Out That Australia's Much-Vaunted NGB $50 Note Has A Spelling Mistake On Ithttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/it-turns-out-australias-much-vaunted-ngb-50-note-has-spelling-mistake-it
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>I got a phone call at 630am on the morning of May 9th 2019 - as someone that was the President of a sporting club I’ve long passed the point of being surprised by a random phone call at an odd hour of the day or night, but this was the first in a while.</p>
<p>On the other end of the line was the producer of a morning breakfast show with one of Perth’s radio stations (6PR), who’d seen something online about a spelling mistake on the Next Generation Banknote, issued into circulation in September 2018.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/products-photos/P-33210_1.jpg" alt="2018 AA18 First Prefix NGB $50 Banknote" title="2018 AA18 First Prefix NGB $50 Banknote" width="80%" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; vertical-align: middle;" /></p>
<p>It turns out that someone in Victoria had been examining the micro print on the front of the note, and noticed that the word “responsibility” had been spelt incorrectly no less than three times!</p>
<p>I didn’t believe that such an error could happen when I was first told of it, but sure enough when a photograph of an enlarged section of the note arrived via text message moments later, it was hard to argue otherwise.</p>
<p>I found it hard to conceive that such a minor yet fundamental error could have passed through the multiple stages of checks that we’d expect from the Reserve Bank of Australia, so reserved my judgement until I had the opportunity to look into it further.</p>
<p>My first thought was that the original text that was reproduced in micro print may have contained the spelling errors, and although incorrect, it was reproduced faithfully for reasons of historical accuracy.</p>
<p>A quick check of the Hansard of the WA Parliament put paid to that theory pretty quickly - Dame Edith Cowan’s maiden speech was recorded and reproduced there in full, and no such spelling errors can be found!</p>
<p>The idea that Hansard itself was incorrect simply isn’t possible, as it was the written record of a verbal speech, and not a transcript of another written document.</p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia has since advised <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/oops-typo-for-the-ages-printed-on-46-million-new-50-notes-20190509-p51ljw.html">several media outlets</a> that they were made aware of the error in December 2018 (just three months after the notes entered circulation), which to me is confirmation that the mis-spelling is the result of human error rather than any preference for historical accuracy.</p>
<p>So how can an error like this happen? I think a statement from the RBA’s press release provides the perfect explanation - <em>"We have reviewed our processes to remove the likelihood of such an error occurring in the future”</em>.</p>
<p>Although there was one designer responsible for the micro-engraving, it’d be quite harsh to lay any blame at his feet alone. It’s quite a unique skill set to be able to design a currency note, it perhaps isn’t fair that creative soul was also expected to vet their own work to ensure it was perfect in every way - the design and vetting processes are quite separate and distinct.</p>
<p>Complex projects such as this involve hundreds, if not thousands of people, and the micro-print designs would have passed by many hands and before many pairs of eye balls before they entered circulation. That statement points to <a href="https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/production-and-distribution/design/design-process/">the <em>process</em></a> being the source of the problem, and that it’s not simply the fault of the people involved that the spelling error saw the light of day.</p>
<p>One of the interesting questions to come out of this story is "Just who has the time, tools and inclination to examine the banknotes they have in their wallet so closely that they can discover an error such as this?” I’m a professional numismatist and study banknotes for a living, and I’ve never been compelled to get a magnifying glass out and study the micro print on any of the notes in my wallet!</p>
<p>For the sake of putting everyone’s concerns at ease, we’ve scanned the micro-print sections of the other NGB notes that have been issued so far - there aren’t any other spelling errors on them as far as we can see!</p>
<p><strong>Will These Notes be Valuable in the Future?</strong></p>
<p>We need to keep in mind that no less than 46 million of these notes have been issued into circulation so far, and that many (many!) more notes may have been printed and are yet to be introduced into circulation. 46 million is near enough to the number required for every man, woman and child to have 2 each.</p>
<p>When we also keep in mind that there are no less than 710 million $50 notes in circulation, we can see that in and of themselves, they sure ain’t going to be rare any time soon!</p>
<p><strong>Is It Worth Setting Any of These Notes Aside?</strong></p>
<p>This question is best answered by reminding ourselves that we collect things for many reasons, and not just in the hope that something will be worth squillions in future. </p>
<p><strong>Which Ones Should I Set Aside?</strong></p>
<p>As there are no less than 46 million of these notes in circulation so far, I’d be fairly selective about any $50 note that I set aside.</p>
<p>I’d check any potential nest egg to make sure that it’s in absolutely spanking mint condition (that is, without any flicks, folds or even tiny dents in it!), and then I’d really only be inclined to keep either or both of a first prefix or a last prefix.</p>
<p>The first prefix for the NGB $50 note is AA18, while the last prefix for the NGB $50 note is IB 18.</p>
<p>One of those in 20 years time, coupled with a newspaper report on the whole escapade will be a great thing to look back on.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/5MICRO1.jpg" alt="Micro Print on 2016 NGB $5 Banknote" title="Micro Print on 2016 NGB $5 Banknote" width="80%" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; vertical-align: middle;" /></p>
<p><strong>Are There Any Other Notes That Have Spelling Errors On Them?</strong></p>
<p>We’ve scanned the micro text sections of the $5 and $10 NGB notes - can you see any spelling mistakes there?</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/10MICRO1.jpg" alt="Micro Text on 2017 NGB $10 Banknote" title="Micro Text on 2017 NGB $10 Banknote" width="40%" style="float: left;" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/10MICRO2.jpg" alt="Micro Text on 2017 NGB $10 Banknote" title="Micro Text on 2017 NGB $10 Banknote" width="40%" style="float: right;" /></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-productid field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Product ID:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/items/australia-2018-fifty-dollars-aa18-first-prefix-lowe-fraser-r525f-uncirculated">Australia 2018 Fifty Dollars AA18 First Prefix Lowe / Fraser R#525F Uncirculated</a></div></div></div>Thu, 09 May 2019 08:18:40 +0000andrew12609 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/it-turns-out-australias-much-vaunted-ngb-50-note-has-spelling-mistake-it#commentsThe Royal Bank of Australia - a Trading Name With an Enduring Appealhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/royal-bank-australia-trading-name-enduring-appeal
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>The "Royal Bank of Australia" is a trading name that has been chosen no less than three times over the past 180 years - twice by legitimate businesses (the second more legitimate than the first), and most recently (September 2017) by a budding "sovereign citizen" who is keen to test the legitimacy of the Australian legal system.</p>
<p><strong>Royal Bank of Australia #1 - Benjamin Boyd’s Private Bank (1842 ~ 1849)</strong><img style="width: 300px; padding: 10px; float: right;" title="" src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-32639_1.jpg" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p>The 19th century entrepreneur Benjamin Boyd has been described as a “swashbuckling entrepreneur” in the same vein as some of the “buccaneers” that followed him 140 years later - Christopher Skase; Alan Bond and Robert Holmes a Court.</p>
<p>Ben Boyd (1801 - 1851) was a British stockbroker who foresaw great profits in the colonies of Australia. He raised £200,000 in funds from a wide range of Scottish investors, bought several steamships (a relatively new technology at that time), and embarked for New South Wales.</p>
<p>Boyd's arrived in NSW with a higher profile than he had at the time of his departure: <em>“The arrival of Benjamin Boyd in Australia marked the beginning of a period of hitherto unknown commercial adventuring his exit, and subsequent mysterious disappearance, occasioned much conjecture, and, incidentally, cost the Government and a section of the business community of Sydney a considerable sum of money.”</em></p>
<p>Despite its name, the Royal Bank of Australia Episode 1 has been described as <em>"<a href="http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/downloads/pdfs/Heritage1206_Ben%20Boyd.pdf">...never having functioned as an ordinary bank, and was probably never meant to. Instead, Boyd himself became the bank’s chief debtor. From the first, he used its funds as if they were his own to invest in New South Wales.</a>"</em> A paper published by RBA (the <em>Reserve</em> Bank of Australia) staff on the history of banking in Australia also states that <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2001/pdf/rdp2001-07.pdf"><em>"The bank, formed in 1839, never carried out more than cursory banking operations."</em></a></p>
<p><em></em>Boyd had decided to invest the funds of the Royal Bank in three industries: steamships, whaling and squatting. Without wanting to steal the thunder of any of the four books written on his life and times, Boyd was spectacularly unsuccessful in each of these areas.<img style="float: right; padding: 10px; width: 300px;" title="" src="https://museum.rba.gov.au/assets/img/displays/before-federation/article/1888_50_pound_note_small.jpg" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p><strong>Royal Bank of Australia #2 - (1888 ~ 1927)</strong></p>
<p>As Benjamin Boyd had died in Guadalcanal in 1851, when the Royal Bank of Australia was restructured in 1888, it was completely free of any link to a buccaneer or swashbuckling of any kind. The second iteration of the Royal Bank of Australia proved to be far more successful than the first as a result - it survived the 1893 banking crisis, and merged with the English, Scottish &amp; Australian Bank in 1927, which is now part of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).</p>
<p><strong>Royal Bank of Australia #3 - (2017?)</strong></p>
<p>The trading name "Royal Bank of Australia” proved its enduring appeal yet again when it rose to public notice via <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/nt-man-faces-court-for-stealing-thousands-from-major-canberra-retailers-20170902-gy9gvg.html">a court case in Canberra in September 2017. It appears that a chap from the Northern Territory was charged with stealing more than $3,000 worth of stock from a number of Woolworths supermarkets across Canberra</a>.</p>
<p>John Krieg Ashlee Russell (44) and his accomplices allegedly filled their trolley with groceries, then when at the checkout handed over a "Royal Bank of Australia” voucher as payment, and left with the items.</p>
<p><img style="padding: 10px; width: 300px; float: left;" title="" src="https://i0.wp.com/loweringthebar.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/legitimate-currency.jpg?w=777&amp;ssl=1" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p>In the subsequent court hearing, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-02/woolworths-scammer-allegedly-stole-hundreds-from-canberra-stores/8866596">Russell claimed to have come to the ACT to use the vouchers to test the lawfulness of his alternative system, and further that he was not an Australian citizen, and did not recognise the Australian courts</a>.</p>
<p>After completing his shopping rounds, Russell posted the AFP a letter stating he would be visit AFP headquarters, which he did later that week (armed with a "dossier" of information), at which point he was duly arrested.</p>
<p>Whether Mr Russell is linked to <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/royalbankvictoria/home">this website providing information on the Royal Bank of Australia</a> or this website providing information on the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/australianimperialcrowncorp/home/corporate-partners">Australian Imperial Crown Corporation</a> is yet to be determined.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Sat, 11 Nov 2017 04:00:43 +0000andrew9600 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/royal-bank-australia-trading-name-enduring-appeal#commentsCould the Government Sell the Royal Australian Mint? Yes, It Could Conceivably Happenhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/could-government-sell-royal-australian-mint-yes-it-could-conceivably-happen
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Conceivably yes, however most unlikely.</p>
<p>Each year when the announcement of Australia’s Annual Commonwealth Budget falls due, a number of stories do the rounds of mainstream media pointing towards big shakeups in expenditure and assets, as pointed to in this article in the Australian newspaper in May 2015: <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/treasury/budget-2015-reforms-to-shrink-bureaucracy/news-story/de5af5806e69afc7b013799c702e3ad1">"Iconic assets will be sold and government departments will be slashed in a new effort to reduce the size of the public sector and raise more than $4 billion, in contentious reforms to be revealed in tomorrow’s federal budget."</a></p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/Budget_cuts.JPG" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p> One of the Commonwealth assets mentioned among those being considered for disposal was <a href="http://ramint.gov.au">the Royal Australian Mint</a> (RAM) - the organisation responsible for striking the coins we use each day, as well as all the coins made for Australia’s collector market.</p>
<p>Although the possibility of the sale of a number of national assets such as the<a href="https://www.artc.com.au"> Australian Rail Track Corporation</a> and <a href="http://asic.gov.au/online-services/search-asics-registers/">the ­registry service of the Australian Securities &amp; Investments Commission</a> are or were being considered, <a href="http://ramint.gov.au">the sale of the Royal Australian Mint</a> was ruled out pretty quickly.</p>
<p>This was seen to be a fairly obvious red herring - the Mint surely has too much responsibility for it to be sold to private interests, with so much of our nation’s economic integrity depending on the RAM’s products, it was thought the idea was purely academic. Some market commentators <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-13/pobjie-selling-the-mint-the-new-faces-of-aussie-currency/5449978">participated in the very Australian activity of “taking the piss” out of the very notion that the Mint might be sold</a>: </p>
<p><em>"One of the greatest ideas that's been floated is that of selling the Royal Australian Mint. It's one of those plans that seems insane until you think about it a bit, and then still seems insane, but eventually if you close your eyes and sit in a quiet room for long enough, begins to make a brilliant kind of sense.</em></p>
<p><em>After all, why shouldn't the people making our money make some money for us? Right now, we don't really get much from the Mint apart from currency - by selling it off, the Australian people will get a huge windfall and some bold entrepreneur can make the production of our money more efficient by doing whatever it is that entrepreneurs do to make things more efficient. Like robots or internet fridges or something."</em></p>
<p>Recent events in the Netherlands however show that such an idea may not necessarily <em>always</em> remain academic.</p>
<p>News emerged <a href="http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/04/06/finance-sec-wants-to-sell-royal-mint/">out of the Netherlands in April of this year</a> (before the 2016 Budget) that <em>“State Secretary Eric Wiebes of Finance wants to get rid of the Royal Dutch Mint, which has been struggling with financial problems for years.”</em> Although the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM) has been operating since 1567 (pretty much four centuries before our own Mint in Canberra opened!), it apparently incurred fairly heavy losses in recent years by trying to strike coins for foreign countries. One order that went horribly sideways for the Dutch Mint was for the government of Chile - the coins were apparently not up to the specifications required (<a href="http://www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/Dutch-Mint-will-be-sold/4?&amp;id=4074">a shipment of pesos developed dark oxidation stains)</a>, and <a href="http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=34825.0">apparently had to be counted by hand</a> (all 850 million of them!), and heavy losses were incurred as a result.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.knm.nl/De-Koninklijke-Nederlandse-Munt-in-het-nieuws/nl/news/874/?NieuwsGroepID=1&amp;NWSY=2016&amp;NWSM=4">The Royal Dutch Mint released a statement on their website</a> that <em>"The Minister of Finance is conducting a strategic review of state participation in the Royal Dutch Mint.”</em> This was the clearest indication yet that discussions were underway with a range of potential buyers.</p>
<p>The Royal Australian Mint strikes a number of coins for foreign nations, and so far they haven’t encountered any significant problems with striking (or counting!) them - touch wood, they aren’t exposed to the same levels of risk that smaller mints such as the RDM have been in recent years.</p>
<p>Although there has been some pushback in the Dutch media about the idea the RDM might be sold, it does show that national mints are not a sacred cow <em>completely</em> immune from the rigours of commercial reality.</p>
<p>If our RAM incurred steep and consistent losses over a period of time, the case for it to be sold could conceivably be stronger. Until that time however, I believe media reports on the subject are incredibly premature - set your watch for early May in 2017 for the next batch to come out!</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jun 2016 07:58:38 +0000andrew6973 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/could-government-sell-royal-australian-mint-yes-it-could-conceivably-happen#commentsIncredible Map to Historic Australian Shipwrecks Discovered on Qantas Flighthttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/incredible-map-historic-australian-shipwrecks-discovered-qantas-flight
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><p>When flying back from the Status International Auction 324 in Sydney a few weeks back, I happened to cast an eye over <a href="http://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/inflight-entertainment/global/en">the flight map shown on the Qantas in-flight entertainment screen</a>.</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/SHIPWRECK_MAP.png" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p>Although I travel fairly regularly with our national carrier, I didn’t realise that two of Australia's most important shipwrecks were identified on the maps - <a href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/silver-coins-batavia-shipwreck">the Batavia (that sank in 1629)</a> and <a href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/silver-coins-rapid-shipwreck">the Rapid (that sank in 1811)</a>. </p>
<p>Those of us with an interest in Australia’s pre-settlement history know full well that both of these shipwrecks have yielded coins - coins that sat on the ocean floor for at least two and a half centuries before being discovered.</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/QANTAS_WRECK_COINS.png" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The flight map in the image shown doesn’t show the full picture (pun not intended) - <strong>these shipwrecks are the only points of interest on the entire Qantas domestic flight map that are not either a capital city or a Qantas destination. </strong></p>
<p>When you’re next on a Qantas flight (to any part of the country), check the flight map and you’ll see what I mean - the only other points I’ve ever seen on the flight map are capital cities or regional destinations.</p>
<p>The reason this stood out to me is because none of the Qantas destinations in that part of North West Australia are identified on the map - Qantas flies to Geraldton, Exmouth, Karratha and Carnarvon (the regional towns closest to these wrecks), yet none of those destinations are identified.</p>
<p>Surely it would have been easier to add one of those to the map?</p>
<p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/files/QANTAS_ROUTE_MAP.JPG" alt="" width="" height="" border="0" /></p>
<p>Curious as to why these locations were chosen, I thought I might look into things a little further. (Yes, I am an insatiable coin geek - roll your eyes as much as you want).</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>From the Switchboard to the Qantas Club to Cabin Staff Straight to the Captain</strong></p>
<p>I first telephoned the Qantas switchboard a few days after returning to Fremantle, and although Julia was extremely courteous and did her best enquiring with a few different departments, I couldn’t get an answer. That wasn’t a surprise - answering a question like this doesn’t exactly meet anyone’s KPI’s, and it’d be hard to determine just which department to send it through to. (Navigation? Customer Care? In-Flight Entertainment [Shipwreck Map Sub-Division]?)</p>
<p>Julia suggested I ask a few ground staff when I flew with them next, which happened to be last weekend to Sydney to watch the Sydney Roosters take on the Melbourne Storm at Allianz Stadium - the chooks were beaten 46-0, so the less said about that the better.</p>
<p>The staff I spoke with at the Qantas Club in Sydney thought the question was really interesting, but couldn’t help either. I then asked the cabin staff if they could help, and they said they’d speak to the flight staff.</p>
<p>The pilot's explanation was that the shipwrecks were simply points of interest - they didn’t think the locations were particularly precisely located (not something I’d noticed), and that they certainly weren’t destinations or navigational waypoints.</p>
<p>Which leads me to think that whoever put that map together is a closet shipwreck treasure hunter - someone with a keen interest in pre-settlement coinage!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Was This Map Prepared by a Keen Treasure Hunter?</strong></p>
<p>It’s interesting that those particular wrecks were chosen as points of interest, as there are other wrecks and maritime points of interest along that section of the WA coast that are arguably of greater historical importance, but which aren’t known to have yielded coins - <a href="http://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/wrecks/trial">the wreck of the Tryall (that sank in 1622)</a> and <a href="http://www.dirkhartogisland.com">Dirk Hartog Island</a> (the very first point that the Dutch landed on the Western Australian coast) to name but two of them.</p>
<p>If you happen to know more about why or how these landmarks ended up on the Qantas flight map, I’ll be stoked to hear from you.</p>
<p>In the meantime, this at least shows there is an enduring interest in the history of these wrecks right across the country.</p>
<p>If you haven’t heard of these shipwrecks before, don’t be concerned as we can introduce you in no time flat.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/silver-coins-batavia-shipwreck">Click this link to read our introductory article to the Batavia shipwreck - one of the world’s bloodiest shipwrecks;</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/silver-coins-rapid-shipwreck">Click this link to read our introductory article to the Rapid shipwreck - coins from this wreck are incredibly rare.</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<!--extended--><!--extended--><!--extended--> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Tue, 14 Jun 2016 08:30:23 +0000andrew6923 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/incredible-map-historic-australian-shipwrecks-discovered-qantas-flight#commentsRembrandt, Picasso and How NOT to Bid at Auctionhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/rembrandt-picasso-and-how-not-bid-auction
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>I recently came across an interesting note in an auction in Europe, it featured the notation “NOTE PRINTING AUSTRALIA” across the top, and featured a portrait of the Dutch artist Rembrandt across the front.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-31091_1.jpg" alt="NPA Test Note Rembrandt Picasso" title="NPA Test Note Rembrandt Picasso" width="600" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; vertical-align: middle;" /></p>
<p>It obviously wasn’t an actual Australian currency note, however it was clearly official - my question was, just what was it printed and used for? I had no idea why Rembrandt was chosen for the design, however it sure seemed interesting.</p>
<p>I bid on the note and was able to secure it, once it arrived safe here in old Fremantle town I set to finding out more about it.</p>
<p>In hindsight, this is something I should have done BEFORE I bid on the note, as it turns out there are a few of them around, and they are less rare than I first expected!</p>
<p>After trawling through the internet for a few hours, buying a book and registering in a collector’s group or two, I’ve since learned that there is a whole market for “test” notes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The 3 Different Categories of Test Note</strong></p>
<p>It turns out that bank note printers and cash management companies show their expertise by printing currency samples, and that these are broadly referred to in numismatic circles as currency test notes or promotional currency notes.</p>
<p><strong>1. Promotional Currency Notes:</strong> The most common category of currency test notes are printed to showcase printing technology and anti-counterfeiting measures, and are generally distributed at international currency trade shows to potential printing customers.</p>
<p>2. <strong>ATM Test Notes: </strong>A second category of currency test notes are printed to test acceptance of a new series of notes by ATMs and currency counting machines; as well as to enable banks and cash handling firms to practice handling new types of note.</p>
<p>3. <strong>Durability Test Notes</strong>: The rarest category of test notes are those printed by banknote printers to test the printing and durability of different substrates, inks and security devices.</p>
<p>In the absence of any information to the contrary, I believed this note had a shot at being in the third category, mainly because the reverse of the note had only been partially printed.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/sites/default/files/lightspeed_storage/photos/P-31091_2.jpg" alt="NPA Test Note Rembrandt Picasso" title="NPA Test Note Rembrandt Picasso" width="600" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></p>
<p>If you look down the bottom of the note, you’ll see Picasso’s name...</p>
<p>My father and his father before him were both tradesmen (fitters and turners the both of them), and as they’ve both now passed away, some of my most prized possessions are the tools they used in their working lives. It’s cool holding something that was used in putting a particular project they put time, effort and grey matter into. (It’s probably not cool not knowing what some of those same tools are, let alone not knowing how to use them, but that’s a whole other story!) In the same way, note collectors can find owning specimen and test notes interesting - they’re both important in the production of the notes we use.</p>
<p>I couldn’t see Note Printing Australia handing out partially-printed notes to potential customers as samples - surely they would’ve waited until the intaglio phase (the raised black lines showing the main design) was run across the reverse of the note if that’s what they were using them for?</p>
<p>My hunch that these test notes were printed to test the durability of the clear (blue) window was heightened by the fact there were 3 different types, each with a different intaglio print on the clear window.</p>
<p>1. Painter’s palette;</p>
<p>2. Round dot; and</p>
<p>3. Portrait of Rembrandt.</p>
<p>In my internet tootling I’ve since counted up a total of about 10 different examples of the test notes, a mix of the different clear window types.</p>
<p>That makes them slightly more readily available than I would’ve expected, and given the fact they’re all still in mint condition, without information from people that were directly involved in their production, it’s hard to determine whether they were in fact printed for to test the durability of the different clear windows, or whether they were simply printed as promotional notes.</p>
<p>Either way, they’re scarce and definitely of interest to note collectors down under.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>How NOT to Bid at Auction</strong></p>
<p>If I’d clarified all this BEFORE bidding on the notes, I would’ve definitely bid less than I had. Fortunately, even though I got the items for less than my maximum bid, and even though the prices I paid for the notes weren’t massive, I was flying blind to a degree, and that isn’t a good habit for a collector, much less a dealer to have.</p>
<p>So, how not to bid at auction is to just get really excited about something, then throw a whole lot of cash at it without knowing at all what the damn thing is actually worth!</p>
<p>I knew full well when I submitted my bids to the auction that there was a chance I’d end up with something that was worth less than I’d paid for it, however little did I know that a bit of time invested in some research, as well as a few dollars in a book that covered the subject, would have saved me hundreds of dollars.</p>
<p>So there we have it - I picked up a few interesting items I’ve never seen before, and reminded myself to make sure I do as much homework as I can before bidding on something at auction.</p>
<p>So - have you bid blind for something at auction? How did you end up? Are you a fly by the seat of your pants collector or do you only bid on something when you know EXACTLY what it’s worth?</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Wed, 15 Jul 2015 07:25:16 +0000andrew5974 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/rembrandt-picasso-and-how-not-bid-auction#commentsHow will Coin Collectors Interpret Certified Coin Grades in the Future?https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/how-will-coin-collectors-interpret-certified-coin-grades-future
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">An article posted online about how collectors interpret the grades independently assigned to coins raised a few interesting questions, here’s just one quote from it that I believe will be of interest to Australian collectors:</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.coinweek.com/education/coin-grading/how-will-coin-collectors-interpret-certified-coin-grades-in-the-future/"><em>“If a rare or scarce … coin that is valued at above $500 is not PCGS … certified, some interested collectors may tend to figure that there must be something wrong with such a coin. While there is general agreement that most rare or scarce … coins should be certified before being sold to collectors, experts often disagree with the assigned numerical grades and have major concerns about the consistency of each grading service. Surely, experts who recommend PCGS … certified coins sometimes do not agree with or have doubts about some grades assigned by PCGS …”</em></a></p>
<p>I’ve amended the quoted text slightly, principally because this article was posted by an author in the United States, and refers to US coins, not Australian coins. The reason I find this interesting article is that it was written by someone that’s been active in the market where independent grading was invented, the market where independent grading has been a part of the numismatic landscape for close to 3 decades.</p>
<p>It could be argued that these questions reflect a mature understanding of the role that independent grading plays in “regulating” a numismatic market - an understanding that I think is yet to fully take hold here in Australia.</p>
<p>There are a few themes to the article:</p>
<p>1. Variability of sales prices for different coins that have the same numismatic grade;</p>
<p>2. “Gradeflation” (a bit of numismatic lingo that conflates the terms grade and inflation). To get an idea of what this term refers to, keep in mind that <em>“In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.”</em></p>
<p>3. CAC and WINGS (two companies that formally endorse the independent grades assigned by PCGS or NGC), as well as</p>
<p>4. Coin doctoring.</p>
<p>I don’t see the fourth point listed above (slabbed coins that have wrongly been accepted for independent grading) as being a real issue at all in the market for Australian coins, however I do believe Australian collectors that are keen on only collecting independently-graded coins should at least be aware that the other three points are posed by at least some collectors in the United States.</p>
<p>This article isn’t the first and sure won’t be the last time these questions are raised, however I’m interested to hear if any Australian collectors have regard for them at the moment.</p>
<p>Have you seen any price variability for two or more coins with the same independent grade within a short period of time? Price variability should of course be expected <em>over</em> time, and even in a short period of time depending on the circumstances of buyers and sellers, however have you seen any price variability that can’t be explained by time or circumstance?</p>
<p>Even though independent grading has “only” been a significant factor in Australia for perhaps 2–4 years, have you seen any evidence of grading standards changing over that period of time? Even if only in certain series?</p>
<p>Do you have any concerns about coin doctoring at all?</p>
<p>Make no mistake, I see clearly that independent grading is a fundamental requirement for many Australian collectors, particularly those new to the market. I would however like to see a mature discussion about the value independent grading brings however.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/fine-art-numismatics">The Fine Art of Numismatics</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Tue, 06 Jan 2015 01:21:56 +0000andrew5505 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/how-will-coin-collectors-interpret-certified-coin-grades-future#commentsTony Delroy Nightlife Podcast - A Fortune in Your Pocketshttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/tony-delroy-nightlife-podcast-fortune-your-pockets
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Stewart Wright and I were on Tony Delroy's popular ABC radio program (Nightlife) last Friday night (September 12th).</p>
<p>If you haven't listened to it before, Nightlife is an AM radio program that's broadcast nationwide between 10pm and 2am, Monday to Friday.</p>
<p>While Tony Delroy openly admits to being a bit eccentric, he does have an excellent grasp of which angles the general public are interested in hearing about when it comes to niche / technical subjects. He also has a keen ability to summarize technical gibberish / lingo in a few words - a skill I am yet to master, as you'll hear if you listen to the show below.</p>
<p>This is the fourth (?) show that Stewart and I have done with Tony, they're always interesting and keep us on our toes.</p>
<p>Dedicated numismatists will pick errors in the information we passed on in a blink of an eye - construtive criticism is welcome in the comments field below!</p>
<p>Here are some links to articles I've written on the 1966 dated coins mentioned:</p>
<p><a title="One of the Rarest Australian Decimal Coins Issued Into Circulation - the 1966 Twenty Cent With the Wavy Baseline" href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/one-rarest-australian-decimal-coins-issued-circulation-1966-twenty-cent-wavy-baseline">1966 20 cent with the wavy baseline</a></p>
<p><a title="The Pattern Australian Silver 50¢ by Machin" href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/research/pattern-australian-silver-50%C2%A2-machin">1966 50 cent</a></p>
<p><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/168069506&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="166"></iframe></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Wed, 17 Sep 2014 00:54:20 +0000andrew5227 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/tony-delroy-nightlife-podcast-fortune-your-pockets#commentsAustralia's Pensioners Apparently Have $50,000 Each In Cash Under The Bed!https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/australias-pensioners-apparently-have-50000-each-cash-under-bed
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-grey-economy-how-retirees-rort-the-pension-20120924-26hku.html">The Sydney Morning Herald recently published an article</a> detailing correspondence received by the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Glenn Stevens, advising him that <em>"Elderly Australians committing welfare fraud on a massive scale are behind the extraordinarily high number of $100 notes in circulation..."</em></p>
<p>Setting aside the question as to how such correspondence found it's way into the public domain, the letter does raise some alarming conclusions drawn by a former public servant that one would hope would have more experience and common sense.</p>
<p>A Mr Peter Mair has been named as the letter-writer, and is apaprently "a former senior RBA official" among other things.</p>
<p>Mr Mair describes the assertion that the the "excessive" number of $50 and $100 notes in circulation as being used in the cash economy by small business people looking to avoid tax and criminals seeking to stay out of the tax system altogether, as nothing less than a "furphy". When we consider that Mr Mair has had some experience in the racing industry, one would think that he would have a slightly more balanced view of the various channels through which cash is used in society.</p>
<p>One of his bolder statements was that <em>"The [Reserve] bank is basically facilitating a tax avoidance scheme by issuing high denomination notes ... They are not needed for day-to-day transaction purposes, or even as reasonable stores of value."</em> His assertion that <em>"the average pensioner couple could hold up to $50,000 in undeclared $50 and $100 notes to get access to the pension..."</em> does not appear to be based in reality whatsoever.</p>
<p>I don't confess to knowing too many pensioners, however I'm not confident that there would be too many folks in the grey-rinse set that would have $5,000 in ready cash stashed under the bed, much less fifty grand!</p>
<p>Mr Mair's conclusions seem to be based on two facts - the first is that when employed at the Reserve Bank in 1996, <em>"the Martin Place headquarters of the Reserve received regular visits from retirees wanting to withdraw large quantities of the new notes. He said the commercial banks had sent them to the Reserve because they did not have enough $100 notes on hand."</em></p>
<p><em></em>The second is that <em>"In broad terms the average value of notes held by New Zealanders is about one third of the $2000 held by Australians - almost all of which by value is in the $50 and $100 denominations ... An obvious explanation for the difference is means test-free age pensions in New Zealand.</em>"</p>
<p>While I applaud anyone taking an active interest in our circulating currency, I'd hope that there would be a more reasoned approach to determining the composition of the notes we'll be using each day.</p>
<p>Mr Mair has obviously not needed to purchase a round of drinks at a pub in Perth within the past few years, as he boldly states that <em>"Cards and the internet have delivered a body blow to high-denomination bank notes. They are redundant," he said. "There is no longer any point in issuing them except to facilitate tax dodging."</em> Try buying anything more than a glass of lemonade every other hour at one of Perth's better pubs Mr Mair, and you may find your perceptions of just how much cash one requires to get by in life to be challenged.</p>
<p>His solution is that <em>"authorities would announce that from, say, June 2015 every $100 and $50 note could be redeemed but no new notes would be issued. After June 2017 every note could only be redeemed at an annual discount of 10 per cent. It would mean that, after two years, each $100 note could only be redeemed for $80, and so on."</em> Such an exercise could surely act as a case study in unintended consequences.</p>
<p>Judging by the breadth and strength of the reaction by pensioners across the country to Mr Mair's comments already, I suspect that he should be mindful of the consequences of circulating such opinions, even if only in private! </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Tue, 25 Sep 2012 02:47:31 +0000andrew2131 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/australias-pensioners-apparently-have-50000-each-cash-under-bed#commentsA Surprise Twist in the Case of the High Profile Ancient Coin Collector in New Yorkhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/surprise-twist-case-high-profile-ancient-coin-collector-new-york
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>The headline to this article sounds something like the name of an episode in <a href="http://scoobydoo.kidswb.com/">Scooby-Doo</a>, or <a href="http://www.enidblyton.net/famous-five/">one of the "Famous Five" books by Enid Blyton</a>, however it is an accurate summary of the events of the past week in the world of ancient numismatics. I had to laugh at <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/prominent-hand-surgeon-pleads-guilty-selling-phony-ancient-coins-undercover-federal-agent-article-1.1107240">the way the Daily News in New York opened their article regarding the most recent development in this case:</a> "A knuckle-headed hand doctor busted for hawking fake ancient Greek drachma must pen an expose on the dirty dealings of the coin collector world to avoid jail time."</p>
<p>If you've been receiving our emails for a while, you may remember <a href="https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/clear-title-numismatic-world-several-topical-examples">a story that broke at the start of the year involving a high-profile collection of ancient coins in the US</a>. The auction was of "The Prospero Collection, was handled by Baldwin &amp; Sons of the UK, and made around $25m.</p>
<p>You may recall that the auction didn't pass entirely without incident - the vendor of "<a href="http://www.baldwin.co.uk/prospero/">The Prospero Collection</a>" (Dr Arnold-Peter C. Weiss) was arrested "on felony possession" of several ancient coins that were allegedly recently looted from Sicily. Dr Weiss' arrest took place just prior to the auction of the Prospero collection, and in fact involved what was one of the key items in that sale - a 4th century BC silver decadrachm from Akragas. </p>
<p>To the uninitiated, this is one of the most coveted coins in the entire world - it had a pre-sale estimate of US$2.5 million, and this was the coin expected to be the most expensive Greek coin ever sold, meaning that it was expected to be more highly prized than the gold stater from the ancient Greek city of Pantikapaion that ended up selling for US$3.25m. Another coin was also seized by authorities at the same time, a 4th century BC silver tetradrachm from the ancient Greek city of Katane, this coin was listed with a pre-sale estimate of no less than $300,000.</p>
<p>Dr Weiss is a rather high profile collector of ancient coins - he is a former treasurer of the American Numismatic Society, chairman of the board at Rhode Island School of Design's art museum and (until very recently) was on the collecting committee of the Harvard Art Museums. He is also a "principal" of Nomos AG - a dealer and auctioneer of ancient coins based in Switzerland.</p>
<p>This arrest was big news in the numismatic world for a number of reasons - there has been a movement underway for the past few years in the US for laws to be enacted (and indeed enforced) preventing the import and ownership of historical artefacts that have been illegally removed from the country in which they were discovered, and by extension, from the nation that owns them. to say that there is strong resistance to these laws from pockets of the numismatic fraternity is a gentle understatement.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/external_images/dd38ccc9.png" alt="" align="middle" /></p>
<p>The presumed consequence of a successful case against Dr Weiss was that it would send a very strong signal to ancient coin collectors worldwide as to the risks inherent in owning coins that do not have an established provenance. Although Dr Weiss has since pled guilty to three counts of attempted criminal possession of ancient coins he believed had been recently looted from Italy, the consequences are not quite as severe as they were first anticipated - the coins have since been determined to be counterfeit!</p>
<p>I find it to be a rather alarming development that these coins can be found to be counterfeit - not only is Dr Weiss a rather wealthy collector of ancient coins, if he isn't an expert in the area of ancient Greek coins, he is certainly regarded as being extremely experienced collector and dealer. The question then needs to be asked - how on earth could someone with a wealth of knowledge in their area of expertise, someone clearly with access to any and all resources that could be deemed as required to make an appropriate decision such as acquiring ancient coins valued in the millions of dollars, how could such a person make an incredible error in judgement as to acquire a series of counterfeit coins?</p>
<p>The probable answer of how I believe comes in two sections - why would they consider purchasing a suspect coin, and how could they make a technical error of authentication - the two points are separate, but linked.</p>
<p>The why is reasonably easy to speculate on - greed, perhaps not in the sense of the word as we regularly understand it (putting one's desire for wealth ahead of other concerns such as moral behaviour or ethics), but greed in the sense of an uncontrollable compulsion to finally own an object of desire that is just within one's reach. I have enough experience as a collector and in dealing with collectors that I can appreciate how someone might act outside their own or society's expectations of proper behaviour if they were intoxicated with the desire to own a particularly rare, historic or desirable coin. We human beings are funny creatures, and common sense certainly flies out the window many times when a collector chooses to buy something they must own.</p>
<p>This is where an error of authentication, grade or value can be made - when reason is set aside, perhaps due to the heat of the moment, or the illicit nature of a transaction, one's normal authentication, grading or valuing procedures can be temporarily cast aside also.</p>
<p>One of my own experiences that comes to mind regarding this dates to my early days at Monetarium in Sydney - a gent came into the store looking to sell a few silver crown-sized coins from the early 20th century from Italy - they weren't in particularly good condition, however when I looked them up in the ubiquitous "Standard Catalog of World Coins" by Krause Publications, one of them had an apparent market value of $3,000 - $4,000. I asked the gent what he wanted for the coins, and as I felt his asking price of $400 for the three coins was quite acceptable given the apparent circumstances, I paid him and sent him on his way.</p>
<p>I then took the coins upstairs to show one of my more learned colleagues - he took a brief look at them, remarked "Well, they're a few nice duds", and pitched them back at me. After forcing back the bile that had quickly jumped into my throat, I sputtered that I'd paid $400 for them. As I'd been schooled to be in the habit of asking questions if I had any uncertainty before buying anything at all, the resulting spray of profane language not only singed my eyebrows, but also stripped the paint from the walls!</p>
<p>The interesting aspect of this lesson for me (one that i have since paid good heed to), was that if the Italian gent had asked for $2,000, I would've had no hesitation in asking him if he would mind me having a colleague verify that the deal was going to be OK. I didn't do that as I was greedy - not only for profit, but for the kudos that comes from a colleague when a prudent decision is made! It was a lonely walk home from the office that day, but fortunately the lesson was sufficiently imprinted on my mind that I've seldom made that error again.</p>
<p>I suspect that the full story of the curious case of Dr Weiss is yet to emerge - if you do a brief internet search about him and this legal case, you'll see that there have been (entirely unproven) allegations that the coins were supplied by a Mafia-linked plant - a crook that passed himself off as a Sicilian villager (or an agent thereof) that had excavated the coin in recent times. Exactly what happened is of course unknown by me at this stage - this doesn't stop us from speculating as to what happened, and taking a lesson or two from it.</p>
<p>As the old saying goes - there but for the Grace of God go I!</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:46:02 +0000andrew2152 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/surprise-twist-case-high-profile-ancient-coin-collector-new-york#commentsWorld of Warcraft - Pretend "Coins" for a World of Fantasyhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/world-warcraft-pretend-coins-world-fantasy
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>I have something of a confession to make - when I was in early high school, I was an absolute geek. Used to spend all my spare time at high school in "the computer room", forgoing meals in order to screw around with the other geeks on the PUNCH CARD machine to program it. Punch cards I tell you!</p>
<p><img vspace="10" hspace="10" align="left" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/3/13908_a_full.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>We also played pretty lame games and programmed stuff. I never did get into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system">bulletin boards</a> however, as that was just too geeky even for me. That the guys that set up our local bulletin board ended up selling out in a big way some years later to a major Australian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Service_Provider">ISP</a> is a source of regret I will admit, but I just didn't have the vision of where the whole bulletin board thing was going to go when I was 15.</p>
<p>Nor did I get into <a href="http://www.wizards.com/DnD/">Dungeons and Dragons</a>, nor what I would regard as a more recent equivalent online game <a href="http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/wow/">World of Warcraft</a> (hereafter known as WOW). For those of you that haven't heard of this computer game before, it is what is known in the trade as an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game">MMOG - a massively multiplayer online game</a>. That is to say that it is a computer game played via the internet, with many, many, MANY players. Just how many? You might be surprised to know that the online "community" for WOW (ie the number of players that play the game) numbers at some 11 million people .... more than the entire population of Belgium!</p>
<p>It was this rather large potential market of buyers in mind that undoubtedly drove the good people at DC Unlimited to release a series of "coins" related to the game. Except they're not <em><strong>really</strong></em> coins, because a coin is a thing that is <em>"a flat, typically round piece of metal with an official stamp, used as money"</em> and money is <em>"a current medium of exchange"</em> or indeed a store of value for some people such as ourselves.</p>
<p>Although these "coins" are indeed flat, round and made of metal, they cannot be used as money (WOW is an online world after all, making the physical transfer of assets impossible).</p>
<p>Technically, they're medallions that are presumably being marketed as collectibles to the 11 million folks that play the game. At an issue price of around US$70 per set (they come out later this year), I'm not hopeful of any appreciation or longevity, particularly since mintage figures haven't been quoted.</p>
<p>They are apparently <em>"Ready to be displayed on a desktop or wall"</em>, however those true to the game may choose to bury their set in a safe place, or hide them in a log in the forest....</p>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oyWWiZAuroA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oyWWiZAuroA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category-news-views field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blog-categories/humanity-it-all">The Humanity of It All</a></div></div></div>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:39:35 +0000andrew2070 at https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.auhttps://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/articles/world-warcraft-pretend-coins-world-fantasy#comments